Reese Kaplan -- Maybe BVW Thinks Davis Can Motivate Kids

Many of the people were puzzled by the outside-the-box decision to hire Brodie Van Wagenen to head up the Mets’ front office.  While there is obviously going to be a period of adjustment to being on the other side of the desk for the first time, for the most part people are happy that he’s expressing some creativity in the prospective roster changes that need to be made.

Unfortunately, a lot of that goodwill may come crashing down quickly if the reports are true that the Mets are signing Chili Davis to be the hitting instructor.  I have nothing against the man personally, but his track record is fairly suspect.  This past season he served as the hitting instructor for the Chicago Cubs and the media was rife with the, “What happened to the Cubs offense?” stories throughout their playoff push in September.  In fact, in their final series of the year they managed just 1 run in 3 of the final four games (which means he’ll fit right in with the Mets). 

Personnel decisions are complicated in high profile endeavors like a professional sports team, particularly one based in the media-intense atmosphere of New York.  You obviously need to evaluate track record, philosophy, communications skills, character and media perception.  While there’s some truth to the old cliché, “Those who can’t do, teach”, the fact remains that if you picked a career offensive lightweight like Mario Mendoza to be your hitting instructor the media would have an absolute field day trashing you for making that choice.

Now Chili Davis as a player was a far more impressive force in the lineup.  He’s a career .274 hitter and three-time All Star who played on three World Series teams with the Twins and twice with the Yankees.  Those are good bonafides to show you have ability to hit a baseball, but the job of a hitting instructor is more about teaching players to get the most out of their natural ability, how to remain focused, how to adapt to changing pitching philosophies or defensive shifts, and, of course, worshipping at the church of launch angle.

When you delve into the teams where Davis was at the helm of run production, it’s not a pretty sight.  We already spoke about the downfall of the Chicago Cubs from juggernaut to Mets-like.  They were 4^th in MLB in 2017 in runs scored with 824 and a team batting average of .255.  Under Davis’ leadership they dropped to 9^th in runs scored with 761 and a similar .258 batting average.  Remember, this a team which has in its lineup Anthony Rizzo, Javy Baez, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant (though hurt some of the year), Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber and Daniel Murphy!  The Red Sox players like Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and Xander Bogaerts all flourished in 2018 in a Davis-less environment. 

Prior to his stint with the Red Sox he worked with the Oakland A’s for three years from 2012 to 2014.  During this stint by the Bay he inherited a team 20^th in baseball in runs scored with a team batting average of .244.  During his first year the number of runs scored jumped by 68 but the batting averaged dipped to .238.  In his sophomore season he fostered a dramatic jump in offense good enough for 4^th in all of MLB.  In his final Oakland team in 2014 he maintained that 4^th position but the batting average dipped to .244 once again. 

People will accuse me of kicking a dead horse, but this Alderson-like move is reminiscent of hiring Terry Collins whose Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels teams improved dramatically once he left.  The Cubs saw their offense disappear while he was calling the shots and the Red Sox improved once he was gone. 

So why would Brodie Van Wagenen look to Davis to fix the problematic offense?  The best rationale I can surmise is that he did his best work with an Oakland team full of no-name players who needed motivation and direction, whereas in his Boston and Chicago stints he inherited a bunch of established All-Star types who may not have been as receptive to his style.  The Mets may be going into 2019 with young players in the lineup regularly, including Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, Jeff McNeil and Peter Alonso.  Perhaps that is the basis of BVW’s thinking…otherwise the decision to hire the man with the checkered track record makes little sense.